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Peter Obi

A former military Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Aboubakar (retd.); the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, and other members of the National Peace Committee met with the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, in Abuja on Thursday night.

Others at the meeting included Cardinal John Onaiyekan and Rev. Fr Atta Barkindo of the NPC Secretariat.

Atiku’s running mate, Mr Peter Obi; President of the Senate, who was also the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Dr Bukola Saraki; PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; Speaker,House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and other PDP leaders also attended the meeting.

The meeting, it was learnt, was convened following Atiku’s decision to go to court to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory.

The meeting, which, started around 6pm, lasted for about one and half hours.

A source, who was at the meeting, told one of our correspondents that the committee asked for the grievances of Atiku and his team over the outcome of the election, which was won by Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.

The Atiku group was said to have narrated alleged intimidation of its supporters in some states and alleged inflation of votes in favour of President Buhari in some states.

The PDP was also said to have told the Abdusalami panel that the party was in possession of documentary evidence to show that the election was characterised with irregularities that were too weighty to ignore.

The source said, “The committee came to meet with us and asked us how we felt about the outcome of the election. We explained our disappointment to the committee and they agreed with us on some of the issues we raised.

“The committee members pleaded with us to accept the outcome and probably forget the issue of going to court and all that.

“But we let them know the danger of ignoring such calamity as it would send dangerous signal to both the international community and future generations in the country.

“We have to lay a good example that we cannot build on nothing. It will be dangerous to forget the massive rigging and dangerous things that happened in many parts of the country.”

The leadership of the PDP is expected to address a press conference on the meeting on Friday (today).

The PDP team and Atiku, it was learnt, demanded that the military should not be deployed in subsequent elections, while INEC should open back-end servers to all participating parties.

They also called for the release of all politicians allegedly detained illegally by the Federal Government and the unfreezing of accounts of those whose accounts were blocked as part of the government’s clampdown on the opposition.

They also demanded that accreditation must come before voting in the March 9 elections.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Abdusalami panel was on its way to meet with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as of the time of filing this report last night.

The meeting, it was learnt, was aimed at encouraging politicians to tone down the war of words between the APC and the PDP following the announcement of the result of the Presidential election.

While Atiku has rejected the result describing it as a sham, the APC, most especially its National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has been lambasting Atiku, describing him as a sore loser.

The peace committee, it was learnt, was asking both parties to abide by the spirit and the letter of the peace pact they signed before the elections. (Punch)

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A team of police men in about four trucks at about 10am trailed accredited journalists covering the PDP Vice Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi’s voting, stopped and threatened to shoot them.

The policemen who acted in a commando style stopped the journalists who were in a hired mini bus, took away their car key leaving them stranded at Agulu near Awgbu junction.

The police team led by a Deputy Superintendent refused to listen to the journalists who showed them their identification both from INEC and their offices; they zoomed off, having said that they were under instruction. (The Sun)

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A large number of traders, artisans and residents shut down their businesses to receive the Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming poll as he stormed Lagos on Wednesday on a campaign visit.

Our correspondent gathered that the former governor of Anambra State while on his tour, reiterated his commitment to supporting and running a pro-business administration if elected into office.

Mr Obi said he made his impromptu visit to markets in Lagos to interact with the traders and to understand their challenges first hand. He said he what to know what they go through sustaining their outfits in these harsh times.

Our correspondent reports that the visit assumed a carnival-like stature as Obi entered the popular Ladipo Market and Computer Village in Munshin and Ikeja respectively. The traders virtually shut their shops and the streets to catch a glimpse of him with some hailing his alias, Okwute (Rock) in salute.

“We need leaders who can change the face of things at the moment, a trader who identified himself as Martin said. “No one is happy with the bad state of the economy despite what we are currently told by the present administration that things are improving. We need a leader who can ease the harsh realities we are facing at the moment and the pair of Abubakar/Obi should be given a trial.”

Obi was said to have told the traders that the economy was after his heart and he was interested in seeing that things begin to work again once he Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is elected into office.

As governor of Anambra State, Obi ran an anti-waste government which drastically cut down on the cost of governance, starting with selling off the state’s Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, so that he could fund education in the state.

Because of his radical initiative, Anambra State moved from its 28th placement on the ladder in the education sector across the country and mercurially ahead to occupy the Number One on the log. (The Sun)

A founding member of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, has tacitly endorsed the candidature of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Mr Peter Obi, ahead of 2091 presidential election.

The 92-year-old politician spoke in Abuja, at the launch of a book entitled ‘The Coming Revolution: A Manifesto for National Greatness,” authored by Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher.

Yakasai, who did not mention Atiku and Obi names, said it would be an opportunity for the North East and South East to have a taste of the proverbial national cake.

“2019 would be a very important election in our history. It would afford a very good section of the country an opportunity to have its own share of the national cake. I’m talking about our brethren from the south eastern part of Nigeria.

“There is also a section in the North that has never produced a president; that is the North East. It has produced a prime minister once. That was under a different constitution. The South East and North East have never produced a president for Nigeria.

“If it happens that the running mate of Buhari is able to win the election after him, and if God grants him the wish of ruling for eight years, it may likely come back to the North East. If you add it up it would come to 20 years.

“And it would go back to the South and anybody can win because it would be open to South East, South West and South-South. If by whatever reason power stays in the North, after the South West has ruled for eight years it would be 20.

“It would go to the South and stay there for 8 years. If it is the wish of God for the South East to get it, that is how long they will wait for it,” he added.

He lamented the constant change of political parties by politicians connotes the lack of integrity. (The Sun)

The former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, yesterday, said he had no personal issue with Governor Willie Obiano but had to lead the campaign against his reelection to fulfil the promise he made to the people of the state when he asked them to vote for him (Obiano) in 2013.

Addressing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women at the State party secretariat Udoka Housing Estate Awka, when the Deputy Governorship candidate, Lady Chidi Alexsandra Onyemelukwe was presented to the women, Obi said the issue he has with Obiano was because of the governor’s “non-performance”.

Obi said he promised the people that he would lead the campaign against Obiano if he fails to work and regretted that the governor has nothing to show for his four years in office.

He reeled out a number of road projects done by his predecessor, Sen. Chris Ngige in three years and under serious tribulation and the ones he (Obi) did and asked the people to ask Obinao to point to what he had done with all the money he left for him and the one that had come to him, including the 156 million dollars and N25 billion cash in the state account when he handed over to him.

He said, “I governed this state for eight years, I can tell you that there is no candidate in this present election that can work better than our (PDP) candidate, Obaze. Some people wrote that Peter Obi and Obiano are quarrelling. I don’t have any issue with Mr Willie Obiano, but I have issues with Governor Obiano. We are not quarrelling, Obiano is still my friend.

“Go and ask anyone that told you that I am demanding money from Obiano or everybody, I am enjoying my marriage with my wife but that notwithstanding can I keep N70 billion with her and be demanding N7 billion, I will take the much I need and tell her my darling to keep this in case you change tomorrow.

“So I am not demanding any money from him, the issue I have with Obiano is very simple, When I took Obiano round Anambra State for campaign, wherever we went to, the markets and so on, the people kept asking me ‘Peter are sure this man would do well,’ and I said ‘yes.’ They asked ‘if he fails to do well what will happen?

“I told them ‘I would be the one to lead a campaign against Obiano if he does not perform well in his first term.’ Today, can anyone show me what the governor has done within his first term? He has nothing to show for it. I am a businessman; you don’t introduce a product twice in the market.

“When I was campaigning for my second term, each community I went to, I usually showed them what I had achieved, and that made it possible for the people to vote for me because they have seen what I did.

“We challenge Obiano to show us what he has done in his first term. Go to all parts of the state where all of you came from, can you mention the things he has done? He has done nothing. That is why I am here to lead the campaign that he will not return.”

Obi, therefore, charged the party women to work hard for the enthronement of good leadership, saying that PDP has selected a credible candidate in Oseloka Obaze to succeed Obiano.

“Anambra has always been a PDP state, and our entry has further popularized the party in the state. Go to the markets, everywhere, and all that the people are saying is PDP. (The Sun)

A former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has identified poverty and hunger as main causes of agitations by ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Obi said this in Calabar during the 7th lecture organised by the Bridge Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by a former governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke.

The foundation was established in 2011 by Imoke to inculcate entrepreneurial skills in young citizens.

The theme for the 2017 edition was ‘Made in Nigeria: Local production, global market.’

Obi, who spoke on the topic, ‘Leadership and Integrity,’ said that some of the agitations across the country had gone beyond control because Nigeria lacked visionary leaders.

He cited Boko Haram in the North-East, militancy in the Niger-Delta, the Independent People of Biafra in the South-East and farmers/herdsmen clash as some of the challenges facing the country today.

Obi said, “Nigeria has the resources and potentials of becoming the greatest country in the world; but, the country lacks visionary leaders.

“Today, we have different forms of agitations in Nigeria because the people are poor and hungry. The leaders have lost touch with the led.”

He commended Imoke for sustaining the foundation for seven years, adding that capacity building for youths was one of the ways of curbing youth unemployment in the country.

Earlier, Imoke said the objective of the foundation was to groom and encourage youths to take the leadership role and have the basic knowledge of becoming entrepreneurs.

“The foundation provides a valuable platform for young people to be inspired by the success stories of youths in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, who are scaling the hurdles and challenges of growing up,” he said. (Punchng.com)

A former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has said that he has only one wristwatch, which he has worn for 17 years, alongside two pairs of black shoes, which he travelled in with most times.

Speaking at The Platform, the flagship programme of Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos, Obi said when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) searched his house at Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos, they found nothing.

He said the anti-corruption agency said he does not leave there because they could not find wristwatches, jewellery and other exotic materials.

Speaking of the Ikoyi cash, Obi said: “Let me tell you what is worrisome; well we don’t know, they are still dealing with who owns the money or who doesn’t own the money, but that will one day be clarified”.

“Let me tell you where I am even worried. Why would anybody put it in such a circumstance, what if it caught fire? If that money was put in our banking system, whoever kept it would have earned eight percent per annum so he would have earned about $7 million by now.

“$7 million is about N2.8 billion today. That is the amount I spent for all secondary schools in Anambra in a year. If he decided to be generous and give it to graduates, they would have shared it to 2,800 graduates, out of which 2,000 would have been successful.

“I live there, but having been governor of Anambra for eight years, I cannot live outside Anambra. The only place I have a house officially built is Onitsha if you see any house in Lagos, Abuja or anywhere else belonging to Peter Obi, confiscate it. I leave that place for my wife and children.”

On the search of his Ikoyi home, Obi said nothing was found except his wife’s cloth and shoes, adding that he has only one wristwatch, which he has used for 17 years.

“Ask those who searched it. I was abroad, they said they wanted to search my house, I sent the key, and they searched my whole apartment and I can tell you the only thing they found.

“They said this man doesn’t live here. It was only his wife’s clothes and shoes that we saw, we didn’t see anything belonging to him.

“I have said it to Nigerians, Peter Obi wears only black shoes, and I have two pairs of it, and I travel with it. The purpose of the shoe is to protect the leg from being hurt. Nothing else. I bought this from Marks and Spencer, $49.99, finish.

“They said ‘we didn’t even see watch’, and I have said it to everyone, this is the only watch I have, I have worn it for 17 years. The purpose of a watch is to keep time. Why would I keep a watch at home? Whose time is it keeping?”

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Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has opined that Nigeria’s economy may not improve in 2017 because the current government is not paying the required attention that will change the situation.

Featuring in an interview programme on CNBC Africa, the former governor likened Nigeria to a knocked Vehicle, stressing that rather than change its driver, attention should be on fixing the engine.

He said, “For me, I dont think (the economy will be better in 2017) because I have not seen the attention that is required for the situation we find ourselves.

“Where we are now is like having a car with which has an engine knock, and we are still busy talking about changing the driver. There is no engine in place; even if you bring in the best driver in the world, he is not going to move the car.

“We need to talk about how do we fix the engine of this vehicle, and that engine is the economy. Until we fix it, then we can talk about the driver, whether there is a good driver or bad driver.”

The former governor called on the political class to bury their different ideologies and come together with the aim of charting the way forward for the Nigerian economy.

“Considering where we are, we need to have in all these sectors, crisis manager to deal with the situation, We need to pull everybody together, it’s no longer a party matter, it is no longer a political matter, it is a survival matter.

“It’s not time to trade blames; it’s not time to dwell in yesterday. If you look at our headlines in our newspapers, the quality of discourse is low, we are still chasing shadows,” Obi said. (TheNigerian.ng)

A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, on Tuesday, said the economic recession in the country would last longer than expected.

He stated this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, while inaugurating a building donated to the radio station of the Department of Mass Communication, NAU, by the institution’s Dean of Social Sciences, Prof. Chinyere Okunna.

Obi said, “I laugh when I hear people say the recession will soon end. This is not true. A critical analysis of the 2017 budget will show you that the recession will not end soon.”

The governor said it was foolhardy for anybody to think that the recession would end soon.

“But there is hope. The hope is for us to change our spending system. Government should cut down the cost of running government.

“If you see any government spending extravagantly, you shout and nothing will happen to you because it is your money that is being spent. That is one of the ways to tackle this recession,” Obi stated.

The former governor described Okunna as a very hardworking academic who had contributed greatly in the training of professionals in the field of mass communication.

He said Okunna, who was a commissioner during his (Obi’s) eight-year tenure as governor of the state, demonstrated great managerial ability.

Speaking, Okunna said she donated the building to support the institution that had become a part of her.

She said, “I came into this university over 20 years ago and as we are winding down our stay here, I felt that I should leave a legacy here.

“We could not have done this without the support of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Joseph Ahaneku, and the members of the management of the university, who gave us the necessary support.” (Punchng.com)